W.When it comes to beef, American chef Anthony Myint doesn't buy into the much-touted “eat less, eat better” philosophy. He believes we shouldn't worry about how much beef we consume, as long as what we eat is climate-friendly beef.
“It's a much more optimistic and delightful theory of change,” he says.
Very crudely speaking, the theory is based on the cultivation of healthy soils. The secret of this model is to replace monocultures and chemical fertilizers with cattle that graze on pastures and fertilize the soil naturally, as they have done for millennia.
The ultimate goal is to restore carbon, often called the building block of life, to the soil, where it is useful for growing more nutrient-rich foods, thereby removing it from the atmosphere.
The science behind this theory is still relatively new, but is building up, particularly with the recent RSA Food, Agriculture and Countryside Commission report concluding that farmers must move from intensive farming to more organic production and respectful of wildlife, including livestock farming. on the grass.
Of course, the eat more, eat better theory only works if we consume 100% grass-fed beef genuinely grown in tune with nature. In the United States, where more than 650 million acres of land are used for pasture, there is much more room for steak than in the United Kingdom.
And the argument is not so convincing for all meats. Myint acknowledges that from a carbon perspective, intensively raised chicken is as “diabolically productive” as it is inhumane. We should definitely eat less of this at least until efforts to create climate-beneficial pastured chicken production become widespread.
So far there is also a less clear link with pigs, which are not part of the grassland food cycle, although they do eat food waste and can add value to arable agricultural systems.
miinted
Now, Myint's Californian theory of change is on its way to becoming a global theory.
He is the founder of Mission Chinese Food, which has just received the Basque Culinary World Prize and a prize of 100,000 euros (£91,000) for the Perennial Farming Initiative (PFI) project that he launched with his wife, journalist Karen Leibowitz, two years ago . .
“I feel tremendously honored to receive the award. “It is the greatest honor of my career,” says Myint, who will invest the money in his nonprofit.
From a consumer perspective, the project means we can now choose to dine at a list of restaurants that commit to being carbon neutral.
PFI CEO Leibowitz says, “We are connecting chefs, farmers, consumers, scientists and policymakers to create a renewable food system rooted in healthy soil.”
Basically, restaurants' carbon impact is assessed through PFI's Zero Foodprint program, created in collaboration with carbon experts. Restaurants then make changes to improve their carbon footprint wherever possible and offset remaining carbon emissions by funding renewable energy and agriculture projects or adding a carbon charge to customers' bills, which in most cases It turns out to be a minuscule one for every penny.
This “tax” is used to pay farmers $15 per ton of carbon removed from the atmosphere, by employing agricultural practices that extract carbon dioxide from the air, prevent its release from the soil, or store it in the soil. These include traditional farming methods such as cover crops, low-till farming, and grazing livestock.
“Unfortunately, in the United States we subsidize bad, extractive agriculture, so the idea of subsidizing good agriculture should be very welcome, and the idea that, at scale, it would solve global warming should also be very optimistic,” says Myint .
If you are launching any project, it helps to have the backing of capital and industry leaders.
Myint was chosen to win by an impressive jury made up of 14 of the world's leading chefs, including Joan Roca of the Celler de Can Roca restaurant in Spain, twice ranked number one in the world; Massimo Bottura, the three Michelin star restaurant Osteria Francescana in Italy; and Dominique Crenn, the first and only chef to achieve three Michelin stars in the United States for Atelier Crenn in San Francisco.
They were so impressed that all the judges agreed to join their initiative.
“Instead of contributing to the problem of climate change, gastronomy can be part of the solution,” says Roca, president of the award jury.
“More than raising awareness, Myint calls for action by providing concrete tools for our industry to reduce its impact on the environment.”
But for Myint, the world's best chefs are just the beginning.
“The interesting thing about our project is that it is not just for the Michelin-starred chef. “There is also scope for McDonalds to implement better grazing practices by shifting focus towards improving land management – 1,000 hectares at a time.”
Master rebasing
What Myint calls “renewable agriculture” is a growing global trend among top chefs and the farmers from whom they source their precious produce.
In the UK it is more commonly known as regenerative farming and encompasses the best of organic, biodynamic and Pasture for Life farming.
McMaster's best selection of UK restaurants fully participating in the food system
Where the light comes in – Stockby www.wtlgi.co
San Juan – Farringdon www.stjohnrestaurant.com Puppy – Hoxton www.lyancub.com
Doug McMaster, founder of Brighton's multi-award-winning, zero-waste restaurant Silo, was also in the running for the award this year.
“Once upon a time, an artist challenged me not to have a container, and during that effort there was a moment when I realized that industrialization is the reason waste exists,” he says.
“Containers are a human thing; “Penguins don’t have containers.”
He has just published his first book. Silo: The zero waste plan and is moving his restaurant from Brighton to Hackney Wick, east London, due to open in September.
The menu is 75 percent plant-based and super local; Each plate will represent the cycle of nature. It will feature smoked purple carrots with egg yolks and elephant garlic and fire-cooked Jerusalem artichokes with stilton sauce and pickles, accompanied by a list of natural and biodynamic wines.
McMaster says: “I have no patience for government change, I am a bottom-up person.
“When I opened Silo everyone said it wasn't going to work because the idea was too extreme. “I remortgaged my mum’s house for £30,000 to open it in 2014 and now the world is listening and zero waste is a big deal.”
The economies of change
Like McMaster, Myint also sees zero waste as part of a larger problem.
He says it's strange to refer to his journey into the world of cooking starting with his degree in Economics and Asian Studies; For Myint, economics is simply “putting numbers to common sense.”
But when interviewed, it is clear that his training in economics has helped him make the leap “from sustainability, which consists of sourcing well and addressing food waste, to the greatest opportunity: creating a food system that encourages healthy soil ”.
It's a connection that's just taking root for most people, which is perhaps one of the reasons Myint had to close its sustainability-focused restaurant The Perennial near Silicon Valley in February of this year. , after three years of commercial activity. Maybe if they opened today it would be a different story.
But PFI's network of carbon-neutral restaurants grew alongside that effort, and the experience helped Myint move from trying to create a consumer-led movement to industry-led.
“If you think that after all these years organic only makes up about two percent of farmland in the US, demand-driven change is working too slowly. It doesn't change anything on a time scale that is useful for climate change, even though it is useful for individual farmers and their consumers,” Myint explains.
“Even if you can get someone to pay $3 more for organic produce, when that gets to the farmer it's just a few cents.
“So instead, we are paying farmers to reverse climate change.”
Jock Zonfrillo, Orana Winner of the Basque Culinary World Prize 2018
Last year the award went to Jock Zonfrillo for dedicating 18 years to discovering and championing the ancient food culture of Australia's indigenous peoples, largely excluded from the national culinary identity.
At the elders' request, he used some of the money to build a packing shed in Kimberley, which serves as a facility to process indigenous ingredients and also as a community centre.
Zonfrillo says: “Winning the award is a recognition of the indigenous culture and its people. It places importance on the preservation of culture. It means much more than money.
The chef was part of the judging panel this year and has committed to trying to bring the PFI project to Australia. His restaurant, Orana, will open its doors in Sydney from August 16 to September 15, 2019. (restaurantorana.com)
The Basque Culinary World Prize is an annual global prize co-founded by the Basque Government and Basque Culinary Center; Lizzie Rivera is the founder of the ethical lifestyle site BICBIM (bicbim.es)
